- Funeral homes report an increase in demand for their services.
- China has reported fewer deaths from COVID since the policy U-turn.
- Most EU countries support pre-departure screening of Chinese passengers.
Global health officials sought to determine the facts of China’s raging COVID-19 outbreak and how to stop its further spread as the government’s mouthpiece newspaper on Wednesday rallied citizens for a “final victory” over the virus. .
China’s lifting of its strict anti-virus controls last month has spread COVID to a population of 1.4 billion with little natural immunity since it emerged in its city of Wuhan three years ago. Is.
Funeral homes have reported an increase in demand for their services and international health experts predict at least one million deaths in China this year.
But officially, China has reported far fewer COVID-19 deaths since the policy U-turn, easing concerns about a disease that previously struggled to eradicate through mass lockdowns. Until the rest of the world opened up.
“China and the Chinese people will definitely win the final victory against this epidemic,” the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily said in an editorial, criticizing its strict anti-virus regime that sparked historic protests late last year. Rejecting said.
Since it has now lifted those restrictions, China has been particularly critical of decisions by some countries to require their citizens to undergo Covid tests, saying they are unreasonable and lack scientific basis. Is.
Health officials from the 27-member European Union are due to meet on Wednesday on a coordinated response to deal with its implications. Increased travel from China.
Most European Union countries are in favor of pre-departure COVID testing for travelers from China, the European Commission said on Tuesday, following similar measures imposed by the United States, Britain, South Korea and others.
China, which has been largely closed off from the world since the pandemic began in late 2019, will stop quarantining incoming travelers from January. 8. But it will still require that incoming passengers be tested before starting their journey.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) officials met with Chinese scientists on Tuesday to discuss the outbreak and the accuracy of China’s data on its spread.
The UN agency invited scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing and share data on hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.
The WHO will speak later, probably at a news briefing on Wednesday, its spokesman said after the meeting. A spokesman earlier said the agency expected a “detailed discussion” about variations in circulation in China and globally.
last month, Reuters The report said the WHO has not received data from China on new Covid hospital admissions since Beijing’s policy change, prompting health experts to question whether it is tracking its own outbreak. Hiding threshold information.
China reported five new COVID-19 deaths on Jan. 3, up from three a day earlier, bringing the official death toll to 5,258, far below global standards.
But the death toll is widely believed to be much higher. Airfinity, a UK-based health data firm, has said that about 9,000 people are likely dying from COVID every day in China.
Interest in travel
Despite some countries imposing restrictions on Chinese visitors, interest in outbound travel from the world’s most populous country is growing, state media reported.
The state-run China Daily newspaper, citing data from travel booking platform Trip.com, reported that international flight bookings from China have increased by 145 percent year-on-year in recent days.
The number of international flights to and from China is still a fraction of pre-Covid levels. The government has said it will increase flights and make it easier for people to travel abroad.
Thailand, a top destination for Chinese tourists, is expecting at least five million Chinese arrivals this year, its tourism authority said on Tuesday.
More than 11 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2019, nearly a third of its total tourist arrivals.
But there are signs that increased travel from China could further spread the virus abroad.
Health officials in South Korea, which began testing travelers from China for COVID on Monday, said more than a fifth of tests have so far come back positive.